Sunday, January 29, 2023

A Craft Room Makeover!

Hi friends! I have been hard at work on a secret project for the past couple of weeks. I decided after Georgia went back to school after Christmas break to do a little painting project in the playroom/craft room. As you may recall, we moved my sewing machine and cutting table to the playroom last January (2022). It's now a hybrid craft room/playroom! Since then it has been a little crowded, a little messy and I realized, a little dark for my creative needs. I wanted to repaint the chalkboard and the formerly gray walls to something lighter and brighter.  Here's what it looked like:



We all loved the chalkboard but it was time for a change! So after a little ruminating, I decided to paint the walls off-white and do a decorative design of birds and clouds like this wallpaper that I have long admired. It's called Daydream by Hygge & West. So lovely. So pricey. ;) Fortunately, I have lots of free time so I figured I could paint something similar without the hassle of installing wallpaper.

I began by priming the chalkboard wall and painting. I used "Dove White" by Valspar. Georgia helped me, she's a very neat roller and we're working on her cutting in skills.




It took three coats to cover that gray.  I should have primed the whole room to start! After the walls were ready, I was extremely eager to start the birds and clouds design. I decided to paint the design on only two walls because I knew it was going to be quite the endeavor. I enlarged and printed out a sample and made a stencil to transfer the design to the wall. I used a colored pencil for the markings. 


Of course, I was most excited to paint the birds.  I used some leftover paint from the bookcase project for the birds. 




It only took a few sessions to paint the birds and then I switched over to clouds. I used the blue gray paint from our bedroom for the clouds. They took a lot longer...  In between clouds, I did some outlining on the birds. I did the outlines with a black paint pen, that was nice and fun!



Before long all the outlining was done and I had to settle in and paint clouds. Over and over again... for about 11 days straight. I did take one day off in the middle there. haha!



I let Georgia practice on one of the clouds. 




After many long hours of painting while standing on a ladder, on a stepstool, kneeling or sitting on the floor, I finally finished! Whew! The hardest part was the bottom next to the baseboard. It was hard to get down there and paint with any accuracy but I did the best I could. And I think it turned out pretty awesome!

I finally got all the furniture moved back in and my dad came and resized my tabletop so it would be slightly smaller for this small room. We hung up the macrame swing again and voila! So beautiful!






I did leave a few of Georgia's toys in her room instead of putting them back in here so it feels a little cleaner and less cluttered.  We'll see how long before the mess returns! haha!



Here's a closeup of the design.


If I ever get brave enough, I might hang some more art on the walls in here, but for now I can't bring myself to cover up the birds or put any holes in the wall knowing what a difficulty it will be to patch them in the future!!

Of course it wouldn't be right to leave without a before and after comparison! 


Before:


After:

What do you think? I hope to see you all around here again soon.  When I recover from this project! 











Tuesday, December 07, 2021

Christmas Time 2021

 This is becoming a blog for my Christmas decorations. I really mean to post more often, if only to make my father happy.  We had a productive year reflooring the upstairs and adding hardwood stairs. We moved some things around in the playroom and living room, so here's a peek at all that plus Christmas decorations!!

I have been waiting 13 years to have white risers and hardwood treads so I could take this photo at Christmas!  I'm finally getting my wish!! If you haven't seen the flooring already, here you go:



And a sparkly garland on the railing. :)


The living room has beautiful new vinyl plank flooring and a lovely dusty blue rug.  The Christmas decor is red, navy and plaid. My favorite!



We moved the bookcase to the living room mostly because I wanted to decorate it! :)  It was formerly covered in toy storage bins. It looks much better in here.


I added these gold reindeer statues because I think they look like bookends!





We got our tree from the mountains again this year and I love it. It's perfect.


My mom bought me this snowy garland last year and I found the perfect spot for it! It's so fun.



It's really hard to keep the table cleared what with homework, meals, crafts and art projects going on 24/7!  But I cleared it off today and arranged a quick candle centerpiece!




I got this tiered stand for Christmas last year and it has become a favorite spot for seasonal decor.  Eventually I plan to use it for a party buffet!  But for now it looks cute filled with snowmen and bottle brush trees!



The kitchen got a few Christmas items as well. The snowflakes on the cutting board are new. Georgia picked them out. :)




Georgia decorated her little tree in her room and made a new paper angel for the top!



The playroom is decked for the holiday too!  Of course it doesn't last long with hurricane Georgia, but here's what it looked like one day!


The den is also full of Christmas cheer. We have a second smaller tree down here again this year.





My brother cut this metal sign for me this year. It's a nice addition to my den decor.


This is Georgia's other tree. :) She decorated it mostly by herself and insisted that it have a topper just like Mommy's. We found this one at Target and it is a perfect miniature of my big one!


And at night, everything sparkles!




The big tree is very special at night, too.


Merry Almost Christmas everyone. I just love this time of year and so does Georgia. 


We have many Christmas plans yet to check off... looking at lights, gingerbread house, making cookies for our neighbors, peanut butter balls, and decorating cookies with the cousins! I am soaking up every minute of decorating, cocoa, christmas songs, wrapping gifts and baking. :) Happy happy holidays!